I'm not sure why this causes some of you so much confusion.

 

Bortles is the future of this franchise.  There is no QB competition right now beyond the rookies competition to learn the playbook, and to work on the issues with his footwork and learning the speed of the game at this level.  He's not competing with Henne.  Henne is a placeholder until he is ready.  Why is that so difficult for some to understand?

 

See ur answer below.

 

It's pretty simple really... There are many of us that think Bortles already gives us the best chance to win and the gap between him and Henne is only going to increase. This idea of Henne being the unquestioned, uncontested placeholder while turning a blind eye to the fact that Blake is better makes no sense. What has Henne ever done to garner this guaranteed job as the starter? This isn't an Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre situation. Henne is an average (at best) QB. I think all some of us are arguing here is that if Blake markedly outperforms Henne in the preseason, how does it make any sense not to play him? Why is there this myth out there that Blake can't develop as he plays?

 

I just think that the better player should play. It would be one thing if Blake was struggling mightily in practice and in the first preseason game while Henne had been playing steady and people were trying to force Blake into the starting job, but as you and everyone else knows, that is not the case at all.

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Its all about repetition and muscle memory. Thats the point they purposely ignore.


Bortles is already better than Henne, thats not even the issue, The object here is to get the finished product of Bortles as good as it can possibly be. To attain that, he needs more work with the fundamentals and should not start until mid season at the earliest.

I agree with you about Bortles relative to Henne with the caveat that we didn't see Bortles against the ones. While he does seem to pass the eye test, he'll take a while to develop consistentcy.

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I'm condescending. That means I talk down to you.

See ur answer below.

And the point hasn't changed.  When he's ready, he'll start. 

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Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

There is hardly a competition. Blake is being groomed. It's in the best interest of the franchise. Whether we like it or not, he's on the pine right now. Maybe part of the competition is knowing the playbook. I happen to think that muscle memory is part of the reason why Caldwell initially said they'd "redshirt" him. But if we were to see him, I'm hoping it's after week 10 where he has 2 weeks to prepare for Indy, we'd have a pretty good idea what our offense looks like, and we can get a few educational lumps in 6 games going into the offseason

 

I don't think the offense will be the same when Bortles is in vs when Henne is in.  You could see the change of play calling once Bortles came in last Friday night.

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In order to rebuild, you have to destroy.

QB

<a class="" href='http://www.jaguars.com/team/roster/Chad-Henne/46f1bd7b-ea02-49a2-948b-3f56ce5d85ec' title="Chad Henne">Chad Henne</a>

<a class="" href='http://www.jaguars.com/team/roster/Blake-Bortles/5e2dcdf3-c5ab-4d4c-80ac-54919a747ec5' title="Blake Bortles">Blake Bortles</a>

<a class="" href='http://www.jaguars.com/team/roster/Ricky-Stanzi/e8e2468f-6c04-4310-bef1-c14de1246c31' title="Ricky Stanzi">Ricky Stanzi</a>

<a class="" href='http://www.jaguars.com/team/roster/Stephen-Morris/18f61689-d1fd-4319-b546-a5a60c8bc236' title="Stephen Morris">Stephen Morris</a>

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And the point hasn't changed.  When he's ready, he'll start. 

 

To be more specific, when he's ready, and the team's ready for him, he'll start.

 

Maybe that's where some are getting mixed up in this debate.

 

The argument provided is that Bortles gives us the best chance to win.  The thing missing here with that type of argument is that the team isn't quite ready yet to "win" in the way I believe they are laying the argument.

 

In a situation where the O-Line is solidified and we have all our weapons ready, then perhaps there would be a valid discussion to maybe start a rookie QB that is fully prepared.  But we don't live in that reality.

 

We live in the reality where we're coming off a 4-12 season with big question marks on the O-Line and at the receiver position.  Why start a QB in week 1 under this reality?  It would make no sense.  

 

If those on the "don't start Bortles" side were saying he should be "red-shirted" for the entire season it would be one thing.  I'm pretty sure he's gonna start this season.  But the team isn't ready for him to start week 1, and to be honest he's only a rookie, and he's not ready to start week 1 either.

 

It's just a matter of time, let's be patient.  If we're in December and Bortles hasn't started a game yet, then it may be time to get anxious.  Now's not that time.

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Chenne had a drive against 2nd stringers. It didn't go well.


I'd guess he was joking about the whole mike lb thing. He's been doing it for years. He stated after that the defense was in 2 deep so they wouldn't blitz.


For what it's worth, in college Bortles completed 71% of his passes when blitzed. Sure it's different in the nfl but it's not something he struggled with in college. He was pretty damn good in college when facing a rush.

Henne's drive against second stringers was 3 handoffs to Storm Johnson and a fourth down snap over his head.

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Henne's drive against second stringers was 3 handoffs to Storm Johnson and a fourth down snap over his head.

Just let me push my start Bortles agenda.


Prob were poor handoffs tho.

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To be more specific, when he's ready, and the team's ready for him, he'll start.


Maybe that's where some are getting mixed up in this debate.


The argument provided is that Bortles gives us the best chance to win. The thing missing here with that type of argument is that the team isn't quite ready yet to "win" in the way I believe they are laying the argument.


In a situation where the O-Line is solidified and we have all our weapons ready, then perhaps there would be a valid discussion to maybe start a rookie QB that is fully prepared. But we don't live in that reality.


We live in the reality where we're coming off a 4-12 season with big question marks on the O-Line and at the receiver position. Why start a QB in week 1 under this reality? It would make no sense.


If those on the "don't start Bortles" side were saying he should be "red-shirted" for the entire season it would be one thing. I'm pretty sure he's gonna start this season. But the team isn't ready for him to start week 1, and to be honest he's only a rookie, and he's not ready to start week 1 either.


It's just a matter of time, let's be patient. If we're in December and Bortles hasn't started a game yet, then it may be time to get anxious. Now's not that time.

I'd rather have my qb take his lumps now and grow with the o-line/receivers than take his lumps next year when we are hoping to compete for the playoffs

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I'd rather have my qb take his lumps now and grow with the o-line/receivers than take his lumps next year when we are hoping to compete for the playoffs

 

 

He can take his lumps in practice and in the final few games of this season. I expect some smoothness to him in 2015 if he sits most of the games this year.

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Bortles showed something Friday night that hasn't been seen around here in a long time... he was throwing into some very tight windows, which are the norm in the NFL, and his accuracy was outstanding on those throws... I don't think Henne would have attempted a couple of those throws because of how tight the windows were and his accuracy in not that good... several talk shows on ESPN were all over this noting that Bortles looked better than any other rookie that played last week...

 

This is a very good sign for our rookie... he still has a lot of work to do but right now there's nothing wrong with his arm or accuracy... I, personally, don't think he's that far from starting from what I've seen so far... all QB's makes mistakes and can be rattled by defensive pressure... the ones that can shake it off and move to the next play are the ones that carries a team... Bradley, Caldwell and other coaches have talked about this and said that's what Bortles does...

 

I'm not saying start him now but his time is much closer than some thinks...

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If he plays CONSISTENTLY well in preseason, he starts week #1.


If not, it wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong.

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He can take his lumps in practice and in the final few games of this season. I expect some smoothness to him in 2015 if he sits most of the games this year.

He wouldn't have smoothness if he started all 16?

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Bortles showed something Friday night that hasn't been seen around here in a long time... he was throwing into some very tight windows, which are the norm in the NFL, and his accuracy was outstanding on those throws... I don't think Henne would have attempted a couple of those throws because of how tight the windows were and his accuracy in not that good... several talk shows on ESPN were all over this noting that Bortles looked better than any other rookie that played last week...

 

This is a very good sign for our rookie... he still has a lot of work to do but right now there's nothing wrong with his arm or accuracy... I, personally, don't think he's that far from starting from what I've seen so far... all QB's makes mistakes and can be rattled by defensive pressure... the ones that can shake it off and move to the next play are the ones that carries a team... Bradley, Caldwell and other coaches have talked about this and said that's what Bortles does...

 

I'm not saying start him now but his time is much closer than some thinks...

 

They made a point yesterday, and really stepped it up in practice as well.  Bortles faced a very vanilla defense with a 4 man front.  There wasn't much for him to process out there.  He did look great for his first outing, and if there's going to be a good way to start, that's how you want it to look.  But, we'll probably see a lot more complexity this week in Chicago.  Because of this, it sounds like they really went heavy on 11 x 11 drills including a ton of blitzing in practice yesterday to take his training to the next level. 

 

This week and next should be good tests of where he is at in his development.  I suspect he'll take a step back, but nothing major.  He does still have a lot he himself admits he needs to work on.

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Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

I don't think him starting this year will hurt him. He just doesn't seem like the kind of person to get shell-shocked.

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Unless a rookie QBs mechanics are absolutely horrendous, I think the main trait you are looking at is his mental makeup. You can't pigeon-hole a QB because David Carr sucked or Blaine Gabbert sucked. Both Mannings were horrible their first years. Elway was bad. They're all individuals and they all react differently. If we're waiting for him to have perfect mechanics or have a great offensive line...hell...he may never play. I'll obviously wait to see what the braintrust thinks, but unless he falls apart in the rest of the preseason games I think he's going to be 'ready' a lot sooner than some people think.


If he gets significant time with the 1s in the 3rd preseason game, we might have a clue of what will actually happen.


With, what I think, is a vastly improved defense....who's to say we're not a QB away from possibly being a playoff team.

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He wouldn't have smoothness if he started all 16?

Starting at least some point during the season will only help IMO. Taking away practice reps and not getting any live playing time only delays the development.

 

IMO, once he gives us the best chance of winning games, he should start, even if it's week 1. They're giving Henne every opportunity to keep the starting job, if he doesn't earn it, it's on him.

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They made a point yesterday, and really stepped it up in practice as well.  Bortles faced a very vanilla defense with a 4 man front.  There wasn't much for him to process out there.  He did look great for his first outing, and if there's going to be a good way to start, that's how you want it to look.  But, we'll probably see a lot more complexity this week in Chicago.  Because of this, it sounds like they really went heavy on 11 x 11 drills including a ton of blitzing in practice yesterday to take his training to the next level. 

 

This week and next should be good tests of where he is at in his development.  I suspect he'll take a step back, but nothing major.  He does still have a lot he himself admits he needs to work on.

 

Yes, I know he faced a very vanilla defense, but that doesn't/shouldn't exclude the fact that he put the ball in very-very tight windows... Chad also faced a very vanilla defense and he didn't try to throw the ball into tight windows like Bortles... vanilla defense or not...you still have to process your reads...

 

Yeah, this week and next week we will get a better view of where he's at... the third pre-season game is where the starters play into the third quarter... if Blake shows improvement in these next two weeks I think it will be hard to keep him on the bench...

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If he plays CONSISTENTLY well in preseason, he starts week #1.


If not, it wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong.

 

The key is paying attention to how many snaps he gets in practice with the #1s.  To date, he's had zero.

 

If or when that changes, then as Vic infamously said... "watch this."

 

Practicing with the #1s will tell the tale of whether or not the tide is turning, and if they are changing their stance on "redshirting" Bortles.

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"You do your own thing in your own time. You should be proud."

With, what I think, is a vastly improved defense....who's to say we're not a QB away from possibly being a playoff team.

 

I can see this.  With our putrid division, every team is a QB away from being the division champ... which means playoffs.

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"You do your own thing in your own time. You should be proud."